Tablets are dead?

In this article Romain Dillet exposes some of the most common reasons why consumers aren’t getting mad over the tablet’s market as they do with the run for the latest and greatest cellphone smartphone model.

To me the most visible reason of such indifference is this one (listed as second of a tree point list):

… chances are you already have a tablet at home and it’s working fine. There’s no reason why you should upgrade it — it probably runs Netflix, Facebook and the Kindle app. It has a browser and your emails. Long replacement cycles mean you don’t need to pay attention to the new and shiny tablets.

But there is a more profound reason. Everyone has treated a tablet like a bigger smartphone … You use a tablet the same way, and with the same uncomfortable workflow, you do with a smartphone. A device which is uses mostly with one hand and with no input device.

And the key of a paradigm shift is held on Romain ending sentences on the article, and on the Apple move on the market with the iPad Pro (and Pencil) introduction:

Apple is trying … to differentiate the iPad from the iPhone, creating the next generation of laptops.
…
Tablets can still make a comeback. They need to become good laptop replacements, or a digital canvas for artists, or something else. But something needs to change and soon.

While Apple is evolving (and forking?) iOS to embrace a new workflow (Slide Over, Split View), Microsoft is taking a top down approach with the Surface being the best interpreter of the ‘one OS to rule them all’ approach.

I am really curious to see what the rumored 10″ iPad Pro coming next month will bring in the iOS evolution and if it’ll be an inspiration – again – to the market.